


The Azure War

by Memory_Theta



Series: Multiversal Collision [1]
Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: AI, AU, Gen, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2018-12-02 06:48:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11503971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Memory_Theta/pseuds/Memory_Theta
Summary: As the Autobots and Decepticons wrangled for control of Earth, another battle is fought. A secret war. Fought by United Nations Earth Defense Force and P.R.I.M.U.S. for the azure UN flag, while MECH and SkyWEB fought for the eradication of the world order as we knew it. But the EDF's resources were limited, and they couldn't fight a war on two fronts... [AU]





	1. Additional Assistance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello, and thank you for reading The Azure War, a few brief notes before we begin… this is the replacement story for “The First Stable Wormhole” and “Second Contact’s” prequel. If you are not already aware, every story posted on the Memory Theta Fanfiction and AO3 accounts are a part of the same continuity, so it is HEAVILY AU. There are elements from the Halo universe and the story will briefly crossover with Star Trek: The Next Generation later on, but the story will mostly take place in my heavily modified version of the Transformers Aligned Continuity (referred to as “Universe Alpha” in Memory Theta canon.) This story (and the first chapter in particular) will also be far more action packed than previous my Fanfictions. With that said though, I hope you enjoy the first chapter.

**Autobot Outpost Omega One – Main Silo**

It was a relatively peaceful day at Autobot HQ, no reports of Decepticon activity for over five days and no calls from Agent Fowler.

That was until Ratchet actually thought he was going to get a break.

 ** _“PRIME!”_** a booming voice sounded over the base’s speaker system. Agent Fowler filled part of one of the main computer screens in his jet.

The earth rumbled rhythmically as Optimus walked over to the computer console that Agent Fowler’s image. “Agent Fowler, to what do we owe-”

“What else? Cons!” Fowler angrily said, “I chased them off with some hard ordinance, but they blew me out of the sky!”

The children snickered in the background as Fowler continued to rant, “they tried a smash-and-grab for the D.N.G.S.”

Arcee, who had also just recently arrived back at base asked, “the… what?”

Fowler cringed for a brief moment before clarifying, “Dynamic Nuclear Generation System, AKA D.N.G.S.”

The federal agent then changed the screen view from his _lovely face_ to that of the D.N.G.S. itself. The device was cubical in form and to the untrained eye, looked like a simple metal box, aside from the fact that it had radiation warning stickers all over it.

From elsewhere, another human joined the party on the platform overlooking the computer screens (where the other human children were.) He was a few inches taller than Jack and had chocolate brown eyes and hair with slightly tanned skin. He looked almost eighteen years old and wore simple plain clothes. He looked at the screen showing the D.N.G.S. and frowned slightly for a split second.

“Hey Jack,” he greeted as Fowler continued to yell about how the D.N.G.S. could cause doom and gloom for all if it got melted down.

“Hey Daniel,” Jack replied as he watched the screen.

“…if there were to be an accident during its transmission” Optimus warned, “the radiation of which you speak could propagate through the groundbridge vortex and harm all fifty states… and beyond.”

That statement peeked Daniel’s intrigue as he began to listen very carefully to what they were saying next.

“You have any better ideas?” Fowler countered.

 _They aren’t going to do what I think they are going to do…_ Daniel thought.

Optimus paused for a brief moment before making his decision, “Ratchet, open a groundbridge to Agent Fowler’s location. I will be right back.” The Prime then disappeared into the bowls of the base for a brief moment before returning with a large cargo trailer meant for semi-trucks in his arms.

Daniel mentally facepalmed, _this will be fun_.

Ratchet walked over to the groundbridge controls and tapped a few buttons on the cybertronian-sized console before pulling the lever that opens the bridge. The bluish-green vortex appeared as expected and Optimus put the trailer on the ground. He then transformed and backed up to hitch the trailer to his semi-truck form.

“Can I come with?” Miko pleaded to Bulkhead.

The bulky green wrecker turned around and firmly said, “stay here Miko. I mean it!”

Miko’s face scrunched up into a frown as she looked away. “Fine!” She pouted, “wreck those ‘cons for me, will ya?”

Bulkhead nodded and looked towards the spiraling vortex of energon.

“Autobots, roll out!” Optimus commanded.

Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Arcee transformed into their vehicle forms and followed Optimus into the groundbridge vortex.

**United Nations Earth Defense Force base ANT-1A – EDF High Command Center - Antarctica**

The EDF High Command was, to put it lightly, not meant to win any interior decorating awards. The floor, walls and ceiling were made of a dark grey metal with bright white lights lighting the room. ANT-1A was built into the side of a mountain for protection, with only the Command Center overlooking Antarctica’s barren landscape. Some days of the year were completely shrouded in darkness, while others granted 24 / 7 sunlight. But according to most, the best time to be in the command center was at sunset, when orangey yellow light is projected on the white snow, creating a slight most consider to be “priceless.”

The room was primarily dominated by computer screens that were attended by mostly robots. These robots varied in appearance depending on their role; but the majority of the robots in the command center were combat droids designed for war.

Alex Prime, as a Z-08EC combat droid (though not like regular footsoldier units) stood at almost seven feet tall and like all other humanoid combat droids was covered in “Ultra-Kevlar” from helm to pes. The armor itself had a black and purple camouflage in the dark and out of combat, but it would change based on the environment. A technology known as “smart camouflage.” Finally, instead of having eyes, all Z series combat droids have visors that contain various sensors. Most units have jet black visors, but special units, such as a unit carrying the rank of Prime will have a different color. Alex’s visor was purple.

 ** _“Sir, EDF Intelligence has intercepted increased chatter on MECH frequencies, they appear to be after something in the U.S. We have coordinates in Nevada of a shot down U.S. military jet.”_** A combat droid reported over the PrimusNET (the EDF’s communication network.)

Alex clasped his servos behind his back, **_“Do we have any units in that general area?”_**

**_“Yes, sir. Sapphire squad has completed a reconnaissance mission in Utah and is about to return to ANT-1A for debriefing. They are in the air now, but I can issue them new orders to investigate this new threat.”_ **

_May be a bit overkill,_ Alex thought, _but given that MECH is going to such lengths to acquire something is definitely not a good sign. Better safe than sorry._

**_“Make it so, commander. Alert the director.”_ **

**Autobot Outpost Omega One – Main Silo**

Daniel was still standing on the platform overlooking the base’s main computer system with Miko and Jack. Rafael was sitting at one of desks on the main platform with his laptop. Daniel had a bad feeling about this mission, something about how Fowler’s jet crashed, and the scorch marks on the fighter’s fuselage gave him déjà vu. 

“We have your coordinates Optimus, barring any complications you should reach the drop-off point by sundown” Ratchet spoke.

Suddenly, Daniel’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He reached for it and unlocked the display.

**_< <Sapphire squad redeployed in Nevada to investigate possible MECH activity. View mission details?>>_ **

_Just what I need. Great. Bloody SkyWEB always ruining everything._

Daniel locked his phone and went over to see Raf, who like the others had his eyes glued to the screen of Optimus’ location.

Before he could say anything to Raf though, Fowler growled, **_“that’s the one! The ‘con that shot me down! Who is he? Wingnut? Dingbat? Skyguy?”_**

“What? I’m not picking up anything,” Ratchet said, “they must be utilizing a cloaking technology.”

Daniel did not like the sound of this, “Agent Fowler, can you describe what you are seeing?”

**_“Yeah, there’s a bunch of ‘cons trailing us!”_ **

“What color are they?” Daniel pressed.

 ** _“Uhh, they’re all a darkish green color”_** Fowler described.

Alarm bells immediately rung at full volume in Daniel’s mind. Every scrap of circumstance so far has pointed to one conclusion. MECH. He immediately pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened the PrimusNET app. He typed: **_< <PRIORITY ONE: MECH ASSAULT OF POTENTIAL DIRTY BOMB UNDERWAY AT FOLLOWING COORDINATES.>>_**

Daniel inputted the coordinates of Optimus Prime that were on the Autobot computer’s screen and pressed send. The message would automatically find itself to Sapphire squad, the only question that was in Daniel’s mind was _is it too late?_

**Unknown Highway – Nevada, United States of America**

Agent Fowler was getting anxious, even if he didn’t show it on the outside. These “’cons” were gaining on him and the D.N.G.S. and were boxing them in on the highway. Suddenly, a green car pulled up beside Optimus on the driver side. The car’s sunroof opened and a man clad in dark green combat armor stood up with a rifle pointed at the U.S. federal agent.

Fowler’s face paled as he recognized who was really chasing the Autobots down this windy road. “MECH…” he mumbled, “shit.”

“Pull over!” The MECH soldier ordered.

Fowler immediately recomposed himself and retorted, “well I’ll be dipped!”

Immediately after, Optimus announced, “Our assailants are not Decepticons… they are humans.”

In the helicopter hovering above the convoy, the MECH commander in charge of the mission, Silas, ordered: “Gentlemen, stop their engines.”

As the MECH soldier beside Fowler prepared to fire, Optimus bared left and bumped the car so that the agent lost his balance and missed.

Agent Fowler cursed mentally.

“Autobots, maintain your cover,” Optimus commanded, “and apply minimal force. Disarmament only.”

The MECH cars tried getting ahead of Optimus, but Bumblebee mercilessly blocked them and drove them off the road.

“Those are not civilian drivers!” Silas remarked.

The convoy entered a particularly windy section of the highway, causing Agent Fowler to become nauseous. “A little air please?”

Optimus opened the driver’s window for Agent Fowler, who took a breath of the fresh air before noticing a MECH soldier jumping between the gap between Optimus and his trailer. Obviously, in an attempt to cut the trailer loose.

“Prime! Bear right!” Agent Fowler yelled.

Optimus did exactly that and caused the MECH soldier to lose balance (but not fall off,) and caused another MECH car to run off the road. Nonetheless, the MECH soldier regained his balance and resumed cutting at the linkage between the trailer and Optimus.

All of a sudden, another shape appeared in Optimus Prime’s mirror. It drew closer at a rapid pace and rapidly fired three missiles at the MECH helicopter! The Helicopter immediately banked, deployed flares, and retreated. Which, caused the missiles to fly in random directions (none of which posed a danger to the convoy.) A loud boom rocked the environment as the craft flew overhead.

The craft was jet black and extremely angular in design, like the F-117 stealth fighter, except it was the size of a chinook helicopter. Its wings had large propellers embedded, and it had four large thrusters on its rear for forward propulsion.

“What is that!” Bulkhead yelled.

It hovered over Optimus, matched his course and speed and turned midair towards the MECH cars. Still hovering over Optimus, the craft fired what appeared to be a minigun at the MECH cars. The bullets pummeled the cars, causing some to lose their drivers and veer off the road, while other cars simply caught fire and exploded. The craft got slightly closer to Optimus and one of the craft’s side doors opened. Two figures in black armor jumped from the craft and landed on Optimus’ trailer. Their armor immediately started to change from the default black color to a greyish-silver pattern that blended in more with the surrounding pavement. One of these figures was well over 7 feet tall and sported a grey visor. The other was significantly shorter and had a neon green visor. They both had futuristic looking assault rifles (similarly to the MECH soldiers.)

“It appears we have additional assistance” Optimus commented.

The taller one of these figures ran over to where the MECH soldier was trying to cut the trailer loose. With lightning reflexes, the figure aimed and fired at the MECH soldier with his rifle, killing him instantly. The body flopped off Optimus when the road made another twist, causing Optimus to wince. The figure then enabled his radio, “Agent Fowler, this is Lieutenant Johnson of the Earth Defense Force. It is imperative that we lose MECH before they can send reinforcements.”

The craft that hovered over Optimus broke off after the MECH helicopter came back into view and fired missiles at it. It just narrowly missed the missiles and was doing evasive maneuvers to keep the Helicopter from getting a lock.

However, the MECH helicopter was not interested in the futuristic looking craft. Instead, it flew towards Optimus and the convoy. Lieutenant Johnson and the Z Series commando droid beside him kneeled with their rifles and aimed and fired at the Helicopter. The bullets did some damage, creating dents in its armor and cracks in its windows.

 ** _“Do you have any ideas?”_** Fowler asked impatiently.

As the green visored Z-08E continued to fire at the helicopter, Lieutenant Johnson pulled up a map of the region on HUD. There were no EDF reinforcements in the area, the closest being an EDF land support outpost thirty minutes away. Regardless, he immediately requested assistance from it and was instantly acknowledged, **_< <UNDERSTOOD: AN ARMORED UNIT IS ENROUTE TO YOUR LOCATION>> _**

He also got a message from the Director of the EDF, **_< <The Autobots planned to transfer the device to a U.S. Military freight train that is in the area, I recommend you stick to their plan before SkyWEB orders the trailer to be fired on. SkyWEB must NOT be allowed to have knowledge of the Cybertronian presence on Earth.>>_**

Lieutenant Johnson acknowledged the message and radioed Fowler, “continue with your original plan, Agent Fowler.”

**_“Will do, Fowler out.”_ **

Back up in the Helicopter, Silas angrily yelled, “how did the EDF get wind of our plans!

Suddenly, Silas’ radio turned on automatically and a robotic voice came through, **_“Silas, you are failing.”_**

Silas’ face went pale, “Sir… we need reinforcements!”

**_“I will not grant you reinforcements, you are authorized to fire at the transport in order to salvage this mission. It may not have the radioactive propagation that I hoped, but it will have to do. If you succeed, I may be merciful.”_ **

The transmission immediately went dead. Silas’ mouth was left agape before yelling at the soldier beside him, “lock onto that trailer and fire!”

The soldier pressed a few buttons to lock on the trailer, but before they could get a lock, a horrible beeping sound filled the cockpit. “Sir, the enemy is getting a lock on us!”

“Evasive maneuvers!” Silas ordered.

The helicopter veered right as the EDF craft fired its minigun. Two bullets whizzed through the passenger area, but no one was harmed. The helicopter turned around to get a lock on the EDF craft, but it initiated evasive maneuvers as well. Silas watched as the convoy transporting the D.N.G.S. entered a train tunnel. He then ordered the pilot to disengage and fly to the other side of the tunnel.

“Sir, we are going to have to jump!” the Z-08C droid said on Optimus’ trailer just after they entered the tunnel.

Almost as if this was a choreographed act, the EDF craft flew right behind the trailer just close enough for the EDF Spec Ops to jump onto. Once they jumped and got their balance, they made their way inside the craft, while the Autobots transformed and placed the D.N.G.S. in the military freight train. After they were done transferring the cargo, the Autobots transformed into their vehicular modes and drove out of the tunnel. The EDF craft followed.

As they exited the tunnel, the EDF craft shot up 90 degrees, engines screeching and flew far above the battlefield. Silas in his helicopter tried to get another lock on the trailer before a different beeping sound filled the cockpit. The MECH commander looked to the side, and to his surprise, purple aircraft surrounded his chopper. Before he could react, the aircraft took off in different directions and two of them fired missiles at Optimus Prime.

“Military firing on one of their own!” Silas gawked.

The missiles tracked Optimus’ vehicular mode and would have hit him directly, had he not bared right, causing the missiles to harmlessly destroy his trailer.

“Sir, I am not detecting any radiation, the D.N.G.S. didn’t meltdown!” The MECH pilot spoke.

“No, it did not.”

Silas watched as the EDF craft flew towards them and opened fire. The craft fired two missiles, but the MECH helicopter deployed flares once again and dodged, causing the missiles to fly haphazardly into the ground.

“Enough of this!” Silas growled, “charge the particle cannon!”

“Sir… that weapon hasn’t been tested!”

“I don’t care! Fire!” Silas snapped.

A few moments later, a yellow beam shot from the helicopter at lightspeed. The EDF craft attempted to dodge, but its right engine was struck and caught on fire. The craft lost power and spiraled to the ground.

The Autobots on the ground remained in vehicular mode as the purple aircrafts flew downwards towards them and transformed into vehicon foot soldiers. “Agent Fowler, it has become absolutely necessary to drop our cover.”

The convoy then transformed into their humanoid forms and faced the vehicons. But before the Autobots could engage, a flurry of blood-red plasma bolts whizzed past them and made fiery holes that went right through the vehicons’ chassis. Optimus swiftly turned to see two tanks behind him, however, these were no ordinary tanks. They had no treads, wheels or anything that made contact with the ground for that matter. They hovered half-a-meter above ground and could go over virtually any kind of terrain, even water. They had two main plasma weapons, with many lighter weapons including a minigun turret on top. Finally, the tanks had the EDF emblem on their left side.

The vehicons that were hit immediately collapsed, while the others took cover. Suddenly, the EDF craft that originally fought of the MECH assault crashed into a group of vehicons behind cover, but it did not explode. One of the wrecked craft’s doors was kicked open and Sapphire squad jumped out onto the battlefield. Sapphire squad was made of five members, one “human” and the rest were Z-08 Elite droids (often shortened to Z-08E.)

A vehicon who survived getting bowled over by the human craft aimed its energon cannon, but was blasted by Bumblebee a few meters away. The Lieutenant Johnson quickly saluted Bumblebee as a symbol of gratitude before running over to one of the EDF tanks that was firing on the mob of Decepticons. The tank commander, a previous generation Z-07 droid popped his helm through the top hatch. Before the commander could say anything, Lieutenant Johnson said, “there is a dirty bomb that is about to get in MECH hands in a few moments if we don’t catch up with that train!”

The tank commander nodded and gestured for him to climb in the tank. This particular class of tank, the _Fighter-class hovertank_ was extremely cramped inside with a regular crew compliment. In fact, this model of tank only required one person to operate, though it was recommended that another crew member be present to select targets and fire the weaponry manually if necessary. There was one extra seat for a passenger, but it was extremely cramped and in the corner, somewhere you didn’t want to be for an extended period.

The tank commander / driver pressed a few buttons and the tank started to turn around rapidly towards the railroad that was down a cliff. The commander pressed a few more buttons before confirming the tank’s course.

**Autobot Outpost Omega One – Main Silo**

“Optimus is down!” Miko yelled.

“And MECH is gonna grab the D.N.G.S.” Jack added.

Daniel started to pace, “and what about these other people who are helping us?”

“We can’t rely upon them,” Jack stated, “we need to think of something, quick!”

“You mean like a stage III?” Raf questioned.

Daniel quickly pulled out his phone and looked at the current EDF troop placement on the battlefield. He saw one tank breaking formation and going down the cliff to intercept the train. “I’m sure everything is going to be fine.”

“Fine?” Miko yelled, “does nuclear meltdown sound _fine_ to you?”

“No, I mean-”

“Okay. Come on, think…” Jack mumbled, “all right, if MECH wants the D.N.G.S., they have to get on that train.”

Daniel watched in awe at how Jack broke the situation in his head. Ever since he first met him, Daniel always thought Jack would make a good military officer. Level-headed, intelligent and a drive to do good, a winning combination in Daniel’s opinion. And while Daniel often felt isolated due to his intellect being off-the-charts, he always had odd feeling of joyfulness seeing others grow around him. Perhaps not to his level, although if there was someone to grow to his level of intellect he would be overjoyed.

“What if we get onboard first?” Miko suggested as she mock punched the air. “You know, run some human-on-human interference?”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Daniel and Ratchet objected in unison.

“You want me bridge you into not only a confined space, but one traveling at 90 miles-per-hour?” Ratchet harshly yelled.

Ratchet went on and on about how such a situation could go wrong. Daniel pulled his phone out and checked the positions of EDF units on the battlefield. The tank that broke formation earlier was almost caught up with the train, and was decelerating from its max speed of 320 kph to match the train’s velocity.

“I think you also need to consider the fact that these MECH people are going to be armed,” Daniel warned.

“If we do nothing, millions could die!” Miko countered.

Ratchet interrupted, “regardless, it is nearly impossible to fix groundbridge coordinates on something moving at that speed!”

“Would it help if we had access to the train’s coordinates?” Raf inquired as he hacked into the train’s navigation.

“Well…”

“THIS IS LUDACRIS!” Daniel roared, but then bit his tongue out of fear he would slip up.

“Jack, you coming with?” Miko asked, completely ignoring Daniel’s outburst.

 Jack nodded and said, “Ratchet, open the groundbridge.”

 _I’d be a priority target if I stepped foot onto that battlefield, and I’d be forced to defend myself_ , Daniel thought as he subconsciously looked to where he hid his sidearm in the base (in case of an emergency.) _Ironically, it would be safer for them going alone than with me…_

The old medic rolled his eyes and punched in the coordinates into the groundbridge computer, before pulling the lever to allow the groundbridge vortex to form. The two children, Miko and Jack, quickly made their way off the platform and onto the ground, before running through the groundbridge.

Daniel pulled his phone out once again and typed, **_< <THERE ARE TWO CHILDREN ABOARD THE TRAIN, ENSURE MECH DOES NOT CAPTURE THEM.>>_**

His message was near instantly acknowledged.

**Unknown train track – Nevada, United States**

As Lieutenant Johnson read the update from the Director, he climbed out of the tank (that was still travelling at just under 145kph.) _Shit_ , he thought, _what the hell are those kids thinking!_

MECH didn’t seem to be aware of his presence as he jumped on the locomotive’s hood. He peered inside the window to see the conductor and the other locomotive technicians to be all unconscious. _Typical MECH strategy_ he thought. He climbed to the top of the locomotive to see the MECH helicopter trying to land on the train! His armor turning the same shade of red as the locomotive, he aimed his rifle at the helicopter. All of a sudden, the train changed track and the helicopter was flung from the train. As it tried to regain stability, Lieutenant Johnson stood up and started to fire at the MECH helicopter.

“Do you hear that sound?” Miko asked with a hint of fear.

“Sounds like gunfire,” Jack said matter-of-factly.

One of the bullets that Johnson fired must have hit a vital area of the Helicopter, as its exhaust started to billow white smoke. “Sir, our weapons are offline!” The MECH pilot told Silas.

Before Silas could say anything, his radio turned back on and the same robotic voice that scolded him earlier spoke, **_“The D.N.G.S. is no longer a priority target. Proceed to the following coordinates.”_**

Silas punched in the coordinates into the Helicopter’s navigation system and the pilot pushed the engines to their limit. Lieutenant Johnson watched from below as the Helicopter soared above him and out of sight. He opened his comm, “MECH seems to be retreating.”

 ** _“In which direction?”_** a robotic voice queried.

“North.”

Back on the main battlefield, the EDF tanks played a supporting role of picking off individual vehicons as the Autobots engaged them in hand-to-hand combat. In the background, the MECH helicopter was hovering overhead, observing the battle. “Living technology,” Silas remarked, “I must’ve not noticed it when fighting the EDF.”

He then pressed a few buttons and performed a few scans on the Autobots.

**_“As much as this mission was a failure and we did not get the D.N.G.S., we seem to have gained something of far greater value. Direction. Return to facility alpha, Commander.”_ **

This statement bewildered Silas, but he nonetheless complied with the order.

As the Helicopter flew off, the last of the vehicons were killed by Bumblebee’s fist. Another EDF tank broke formation and glided towards Agent Fowler, who was sitting atop a giant boulder. The commander of the tank, a Z-08 droid opened the top hatch beside the main turret and said, “Agent William Fowler, the Director of the EDF has ordered me to voice his dissatisfaction of your handling of this mission. Not only did you not immediately contact the EDF when MECH shot you down escorting a potential dirty bomb, you involved the Autobots!”

“I didn’t realize that it was MECH-”

By this point, the Autobots had gotten their barring and slowly started to surround Fowler and the EDF tank. Noticing this, the tank commander told Fowler, “you’ll be hearing from us soon.”

He then descended back into the tank and pressed a few buttons. The tank started to turn in the direction of a gap between the Autobots’ chassis. A sudden low humming sound was heard from the EDF tanks just as they shot off into the distance, creating a giant cloud of dirt and dust.

“Who were those guys?” Bulkhead asked.

“I’ll tell you back at base.”


	2. Explainations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I would like to say that this chapter is not action-packed like the last one. This chapter focuses on explaining the EDF and its capabilities, as well as my altered version of MECH. I was going to add an intense action flashback, but that would make this chapter way longer than I really want to make it. Next chapter will be far more in line with Michael Bay’s philosophy towards Transformers (essentially, sh*t’s gonna blow up.)  
>   
> One more thing, the Challenger class AIs (P.R.I.M.U.S. and SkyWEB) are based on GLaDOS from the Portal series. Oh, and this chapter does contain some political satire… and any resemblance to any person is purely coincidental (I swear!)

**MECH Facility Alpha – Central AI Chamber**

Silas walked down the gloomy long corridor with haste, he was being escorted by two standard MECH soldiers. Just before the end of the corridor, he stopped and took a deep breath before proceeding into the room ahead of him. The room was almost spherical and unlike the corridor that Silas emerged from, very brightly lit. In fact, it almost looked like they were above ground.

However, the room was dominated by a giant robot body that hung from the ceiling and had its back turned to Silas. It wasn’t a humanoid body, no… one could describe it more like giant robotic serpent made of cabling and wiring. The head of this robot had only a single, green eye.

“Leave us,” SkyWEB ordered the MECH soldiers who escorted Silas into the camber.

The soldiers bowed and left the room, only to be just outside in the corridor should their master require anything from them.

“Silas, I am going to be honest with you. We are losing this war,” SkyWEB said in a flat tone.

“Your excellency, I take full responsibility for-”

“The plan to seize and melt the D.N.G.S. was a short-term plan in order to give my designer a headache and to distract him and by brother from the overall war effort” SkyWEB droned as he turned to face Silas.

“You mentioned something about direction, sir?” Silas respectfully asked.

“It would seem in your failure, you revealed a new path for us to take with this war,” SkyWEB mused, “ever since the beginning of this war, my brother has been receiving constant upgrades to his processing power by my creator. And while I’d love to focus on self-improvement, I simply do not have the processing power to design new weaponry, create new tactics and design new and faster processing modules simultaneously.”

“However, if I didn’t have to _design_ new weaponry, it could free enough processing power for me to actually improve my design and be finally surpass P.R.I.M.U.S.”

“I’m not sure if I am following…” Silas meekly responded

SkyWEB turned around and responded, “The EDF has its moral and legal limits, we do not. Silas, I am putting you in charge of an operation to capture one of these transforming robots for my… analysis, so that I may reverse engineer their technology to give us the upper hand.”

**Autobot Outpost Omega One – Main Silo**

Daniel took a deep breath as he walked back into the main silo. The ‘bots and their human friends were gathered around a single platform, listening to what Agent Fowler had to say. “I’m sure you’re all wondering who helped us during the last mission, and who those guys were who attacked us.”

The Autobots said nothing as Fowler took a deep breath before proceeding. “They’re called the United Nations Earth Defense Force, or EDF for short.”

The federal agent tapped a few buttons on his phone, and suddenly the base’s computer screens showed the EDF insignia. “They’re a top-secret agency of the United Nations tasked with using the most cutting-edge technology to defend the peoples of Earth from extreme threats.”

“Why were we never informed of their existence?” Optimus inquired.

“As I mentioned before, they are top secret.”

“So are the Autobots, so what gives!” Miko exclaimed.

“Honestly Miko, I have no clue,” Fowler sighed, “the EDF keeps its operations air-tight to prevent knowledge of their existence leaking out. If people learned about MECH and how much of a threat they are and where they came from…”

Fowler went silent before sitting back in a chair behind him with his face in his palms. One would have to be blind to not see how disturbed he was, “MECH and its origins is U.S. Government’s darkest closely guarded secret. The EDF alone has been fighting them for over two years. I’m afraid I cannot tell you anything about them, other than the fact that they are an extreme threat.”

 _More like you are too afraid to confront your own mistakes,_ Daniel thought bitterly.

The last prime furrowed his brow, “I would like to have contact with this ‘EDF,’ Agent Fowler.”

“I hear you prime, the EDF has a liaison officer to Unit:E, I’ll get in touch with him.”

“I do not believe that will be necessary, Special Agent William Fowler,” a voice interrupted from another platform.

The Autobots turned towards the elevator, where a new figure stood. Unlike other EDF units, his armor did not blend into the environment at all. His pedes and lower leg plating were jet-black and had two UN azure stripes running up the outer side of the droid’s leg armor. The rest of his armor was pearl white, except for his shoulder-plating, which was also UN azure. His left breastplate sported the EDF insignia. Finally, his visor glowed a royal blue that reminded some of Optimus Prime’s optics.

The Autobots nearly drew their weapons, but Optimus gestured for them to stand down.

“I am Lieutenant EG-3BA of the United Nations Earth Defense Force. I have been assigned as the EDF liaison officer to the Autobot forces stationed on Earth,” the Z-08S droid droned.

The last prime stepped forward, “I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots.”

“It is an honor, sir,” the droid straightened its posture, “the EDF sends its greetings.”

 _Good to see my diplomacy programming working as expected_ Daniel mused.

“Likewise,” Optimus said, “I must ask how you got into the base undetected.”

“All EDF equipment, including the AMC-3 that transported me here implements various cloaking technology. This is one of the many ways we keep our operations secret,” EG-3BA explained.

“Uhm, Optimus?” Jack asked.

Optimus and the rest of the Autobots looked at Jack, “I promised my mom that I’d come home early to do some chores.”

“I have to go too,” Daniel sighed, looking at his watch.

“I should go home too, I have a test tomorrow.”

“No way am I gonna pass up something like this!” Miko exclaimed, “I’m staying!”

Optimus looked at his team, “Arcee, Bumblebee, please take Jack, Raf and Daniel home.”

They nodded and transformed into their vehicular forms. Daniel, Raf, and Jack made their way off the platform and walked past the EDF droid. As Daniel passed however, he gave the droid a slight wink and moved down the stairs behind Jack and Raf. Unlike the other children, Daniel ‘found out’ about the Autobots a few days later after the other children were already assigned guardians. As a result, he was never formally assigned a guardian and sort of ‘floated’ between the different Autobots. Ratchet outright refused to be guardian for a human, and Optimus was… Optimus, never wanting to get emotionally attached.

“Wanna come with me?” Raf offered.

“Sure. Is that okay Bumblebee?”

“Yep,” beeped the yellow Urbana 500.

“He says it’s okay,” Raf translated.

Daniel nodded and entered in the backseat, while Raf sat in the front passenger side seat. As soon as Raf fastened his seatbelt, the car started to drive forward by itself. “What do you think about the new VMD Rylenz CPU, Daniel?”

 _Freshly packaged ancient technology_ Daniel thought.

“I think it finally gives Bintel some competition for once,” Daniel commented.

Raf pulled his phone out of pocket and typed in a few things before showing the screen to Daniel, causing him to genuinely laugh.

Daniel and Raf talked about technology and exchanged memes the entire ride back to his house. Bumblebee just listened to their conversation, only interrupting when they reached Daniel’s ‘apartment.’

“He says we’ve arrived at your place.”

Daniel looked out the window and mentally kicked himself for not noticing his surroundings. “Thanks for the lift Bumblebee,” he said as he got out.

“Anytime,” the bot beeped.

Daniel could understand the yellow bot without issue. When he first started interacting with the ‘bots he decided that he would pretend not to so that it wouldn’t draw extra attention to himself. Something he regretted early on due to the annoyance of having someone translate a language _that was_ very similar to a language that P.R.I.M.U.S. invented (before Daniel met the Autobots) for encrypted verbal communications between Z series androids.

He watched the yellow car pull away from the apartment complex and drive down the road. Instead of entering the apartment complex, he walked around the side to a back alley. In the middle of this alley was what appeared to be a black GMC suburban. Daniel pulled out his phone and pressed a button with his thumb. The car’s lights flickered and the doors unlocked. He opened the driver side door and climbed in.

“Where do you wish to go, sir?” A robotic voice spoke through the car’s speakers.

“EDF Outpost NA-113 please.”

Unlike a regular suburban, which would have roared to life when the engine started, the one Daniel was in was dead silent. The car slowly accelerated forward and turned itself onto the main road. Daniel kept his hands on the wheel, as self-driving cars were still not mainstream and he didn’t wish to attract attention.

After an over fifteen minutes of city driving, the car merged onto a lonely, two lane country road. Daniel sighed and looked around. Nobody was driving on this street. He took his hands off the wheel and exhaled, contemplating. He watched as he passed towering mesas and rock formations. He looked at the car’s dash. It was 120 degrees Fahrenheit. “Climate change isn’t happening, eh?” Daniel muttered to himself sarcastically.

Daniel’s phone buzzed for a brief moment. He typed his unlock code and was greeted with the following message, **_< <emergency meeting with United Nations Security Council scheduled in six hours.>>_**

Daniel chuckled, he’d submitted a report earlier to the UN Security Council regarding the MECH’s attempted raid on the D.N.G.S. and how the Autobots got involved.

And… he may have added a line in there about how that could possibly extend the war for a few more years.

The car suddenly started to slow down to turn onto an even more downtrodden road. It was made of dirt and had potholes that made the SUV jerk up and down. The road wrapped around one of the larger mesas and seemingly ended at the edge of the formation. However, what appeared to be a cliff swung open sideways, revealing a medium sized garage with two SUVs that looked identical to the one Daniel was in. The self-driving SUV entered one of the five parking spaces. Daniel unbuckled his seatbelt and exited the vehicle and was saluted by a Z series droid with the same appearance as the robot that became the liaison to the Autobots, “welcome back, Director.”

The garage door swung shut and Daniel walked over to the elevator, with the droid following behind. The doors immediately opened and Daniel selected the main floor. The elevator rose steadily and reached the main floor within thirty seconds. The elevator doors opened, revealing a modestly sized control center with computer stations lining the walls; all being operated by various EDF robots. The room was complete lit with artificial light, as there simply were no windows. Standing in the center of the room was another Z series combat droid. “Senior Lieutenant,” the Director Daniel Flynn nodded.

“Sir!” The droid saluted.

The control center had a door to the left of the elevator, which the Director promptly walked through, revealing a small spartan room with a bed, table, bathroom and closet. He opened the closet, revealing a black suit with a UN azure tie and a white dress shirt. He then got changed and walked out of the room with haste, remembering to slip his phone into his right inner suit jacket pocket (he kept his firearm on the left.)

Daniel then cut through the control center once again and entered the elevator. He pressed a button labeled ‘S’ and the elevator steadily rose. The elevator finally dinged, revealing another short corridor with a door at the very end. He briskly almost marched over to the door. He swung it open and went through. The door led to the outdoors, specifically on the very top of the mesa. In front of the door was a large landing pad that supported an Advanced Arial Carrier Mark IV (AAC-4), a larger version of the craft that fought MECH earlier.

Just outside the craft was another droid that immediately saluted the Director as he stepped out of the door. Daniel passed the droid without a word and boarded the craft. The interior and of the AAC-4 was similar to the equivalent craft in the U.S. Air Force: the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. The AAC-4 was carrying two Plasma Hover Tanks (PHT) plus thirty Z-08 series droids with some of different variants. Daniel opened his phone to see the carrier’s planned flight path. It was headed to EDF outpost NA-12, a hidden underground base just outside the metropolitan area of New York.

The doors closed with a chime, and the AAC-4’s engines were ignited with a roar. Daniel found a seat not occupied by a droid and strapped in just before the ‘plane’ verticality took off from the landing pad. There were no windows (except for the cockpit,) and the cargo area was dimly lit with artificial light.

The craft started to move forwards and started to rapidly ascend into the upper atmosphere. It was a bumpy ride for sure, but considering it was only two hours, it could have been worse. Daniel spent most of the flight contemplating something that has been on his mind. Something that even displaced his regular thoughts about the MECH war and how he could end it. _I don’t understand…_ Daniel thought, _how is it possible that it is a mere coincidence that I named the EDF’s central AI P.R.I.M.U.S. and created the EDF rank structure to feature a ‘Prime’ at the very top… all before I even knew what a cybertronian was?_

Of course, Daniel had created the EDF rank structure differently than other militaries. Primarily because unlike an army of humans, that were naturally undisciplined and required intense training to hold a rifle and carry out orders, _all_ EDF Z series robots were built and programmed from the very beginning with warfare in mind. Their programming was rigid, and while they appeared to the casual observer as self-aware, they were in fact completely driven by their programming and had no free-will. Of course, this created a problem, as combat conditions regularly changed and new and unique skills were required of the robots practically daily. The solution? A special unit / rank that had the ability to reprogram itself as it discovered how to complete various tasks required by the EDF. Then, every day, the modified code was automatically uploaded to P.R.I.M.U.S. for his analysis. P.R.I.M.U.S. would then ‘compile’ these changes into a format known as a ‘patch.’ Ultimately, the Director had to sign off on any new code ‘patches,’ but most of the time he simply glanced over the code and gave it his approval. After the Director’s signature is received, P.R.I.M.U.S. would then distribute the patch to every EDF unit that needed it over the PrimusNET.

This unit and rank was known as the _Prime of the Earth Defense Force._

One other important detail was that the prime unit carried a chip within themselves known as the _Command Module_ , which among other things, recorded every instant of each Prime’s existence and saved a copy of their programming. This chip would then be passed on to future Primes so that they could access the collective wisdom, experience and knowledge of their predecessors.

Oh, and did I mention that the rank of prime sits as the third highest rank in the EDF rank ladder? Above the rank of _Lieutenant Prime_ (which will be explained later) and below the ranks of _Central AI_ and _Director_ , respectively.

The PRimary Intelligent MUltifunctional System, or P.R.I.M.U.S., was the EDF’s central AI. Primary, referring to his central status in the EDF, intelligent referring to the fact he had an order-of-magnitude more raw-computational-power than any other supercomputer at the time, multifunctional, referring to how he could perform a variety of _extremely_ complex tasks, and system referring to how he was well… technically a computer system. And while this was all true, it hid what truly made him special.

He was self-aware. More specifically, he had a positronic brain that functioned in a very similar way to its fleshy human brain counterpart. Except… it ‘thought’ many, many times faster. This allowed for truly creative thought and most importantly, sentience.

He not only (as mentioned earlier) reviewed the code changes that were made by the prime, but also helped manage overall EDF strategy. He also provided what was known as _Artificial Intelligence aided Design,_ or A.I.D. for short. Which assisted EDF scientists and engineers design new things by simulating their designs using P.R.I.M.U.S.’ massive computational power. The AI would then suggest how their designs could be improved… or he’d sometimes completely redesign their work… leaving some upset with the time they put into creating something only for it all to be scrapped by a tin can. Of course, the AI would often test scientific theories (most often through simulation) on his own accord and design new things from it.

The craft made a vertical landing two hours later at NA-12. The base was hidden away underground in an old U.S. nuclear bunker complex built during the Cold War, and had a moderately sized hangar that could only support craft that took off and landed vertically (due to the fact there was no runway and aircraft taking off and landing must go through a giant door which made up the ceiling of the hangar.)

Daniel marched out of the plane before the Z-08s could filter out and swiftly made his way to the other side of the hangar where a row of black SUVs (identical to the ones in Nevada) were parked. He pulled out his phone once again and the SUV farthest to the right beeped and flickered its lights. Daniel again entered in the driver side door and was greeted by the same automated voice: “Where do you wish to go, sir?”

“United Nations Headquarters.”

The SUV’s headlights immediately turned on and it backed out of the parking stall. To the right, there was a tunnel that led out of the base, and the SUV entered it. After a few seconds, the SUV came to the door that led to the outside and came to a halt. A moment later the door opened and the SUV drove through.

The drive initially started by driving through some obscure country roads, but soon enough, the SUV was on NYC’s congested streets. _Why didn’t I take the just take Amtrak?_  Daniel watched as the SUV passed by the giant buildings that defined _The Big Apple_.

As he arrived at UN Headquarters, he pulled out a UN ID card from one of his pockets. The SUV then drove up to a booth manned by a human security guard, which controlled a boom gate. He gave the guard his ID, who then tapped it on his computer and reviewed the Director’s file. “Welcome back, sir,” the guard said in a French accent as he gave Daniel back his ID. The boom gate went up, allowing the self-driving SUV to drive through. The self-driving SUV then stopped right in the UN plaza, allowing Daniel to get out and for the SUV to find parking by itself.

Daniel swiftly headed to the United Nations Conference Building which overlooked the East River. He passed through the building’s security, and walked into one of the elevators. He pressed the button labeled ‘3.’ The elevator rose up through the building as expected, beeping as it passed each floor in between. Finally, as the elevator reached the third floor, it dinged and the doors opened into a long hallway.

The director strode through the long hallway and approached the first door to his right. He took a deep breath, and then entered the United Nations Security Council’s main conference room.

Basically, his bosses.

The Security Council was the only body the Director of the EDF was required to report to. It was the only agency with full knowledge and oversight of EDF operations, as well as the only body that could appoint / terminate a director.

At least under normal circumstances.

The chamber was massive, with many (empty) seats facing forward from the door in which the Director entered. In the center-back of the room was a double-layered, large semi-circle of seats, which allowed / had fifteen people sit there. These were the members of the UN Security Council, five of them were permeant members and could veto anything the council voted on, while the others were temporary or ‘peasant’ members (as Daniel described in his journal,) who couldn’t veto resolutions by themselves and had to be elected to the council by the General Assembly (who could later vote them out, unlike permanent members.)

Daniel’s eyes quickly scanned who was representing each nation at the less than official meeting, particularly the big five. Chinese Ambassador to the UN Bai Guo, Russian Ambassador to the UN Boris Romanov, British Foreign Secretary Theresa Smith, French Ambassador to the UN Adelisa Francois…

And… President of the United States Archibald G Frumpf.

 _Dear god, not him…_ Daniel mentally sighed.

“Director, we’ve read your report,” the British Foreign secretary started.

“Yes ma’am,” Daniel responded, “I am sure you are concerned about line 63.”

“Yes. However, there are other parts we are concerned with as well.”

That statement rose Daniel’s brow.

“This council would appreciate if you’d elaborate on statement here that the war could be extended for years or even _lost_ after this… altercation you spoke of occurring two days ago,” Theresa Smith frowned.

“Yes ma’am, I would first like to preface by reminding everyone that SkyWEB is a Challenger Class AI like the EDF’s P.R.I.M.U.S., a superintelligence if you will. When the United States division ‘Unit:E’ decided to use their Autobot assets against SkyWEB’s puppet organization, MECH, they unintentionally gave SkyWEB intelligence of the existence of the Cybertronian race and their biological and technological capabilities.”

Daniel continued, “over the past few months, we’ve been pushing MECH back; destroying their outposts and facilities at a staggering rate. This has led SkyWEB to divert his massive processing power to tactics and strategy, rather than invention and self-improvement. P.R.I.M.U.S. on the other hand, has been receiving constant upgrades designed by myself for the entirety of this war, gradually improving his capabilities over SkyWEB, eventually allowing P.R.I.M.U S. to beat SkyWEB even if SkyWEB diverted every ounce of processing towards defeating P.R.I.M.U.S. directly.”

“I fail to see where the issue is,” the Russian ambassador commented.

“Ah, well that is where things get more complicated. You see, inventing new things from scratch is still far more challenging for Challenger Class AIs and humans than reverse engineering other technology. Because of this, since Cybertronian technology is still superior to that of EDF technology, he will undoubtedly seize the moment to quickly reverse engineer everything he can find regarding their race at an inhuman rate, which in turn will give him more processing power to spare for self-improvement.”

The council was silent for a moment, before the Canadian ambassador asked, “why don’t you simply counter? Do the exact same thing as you said SkyWEB would do?”

Daniel’s face went cold and dark. “I believe there has been a misunderstanding. When I said he will ‘reverse-engineer cybertronian technology,’ I didn’t just mean seizing some of their weapons and other technology… no, I meant he would capture a live cybertronian, may that be an Autobot or Decepticon, and pick them apart, piece by piece. He would dissect them alive, if you will, like a frog in a elementary biology class. If we were to do that, we would be breaking every ethics and morality protocol on the books.”

The council was once again silent in contemplation.

“But,” Daniel started, breaking the silence. “We have a plan.”

This raised a few eyebrows. A few assistants working at the UN Headquarters distributed paper copies of what Daniel had on his phone. “I won’t bore you with the details, but in essence, this plan involves us invoking Protocol Omega-15.”

 This protocol was (as the name suggested) one of the Omega series, which were “emergency protocols of last resort.” Meaning, they are only used during dire circumstances. Normally, only the UN Security Council could authorize their use, however, if certain criteria are met (such as UN being destroyed) the Director of the EDF could enact Protocol Omega-1, essentially giving him / her executive control over EDF operating protocol.

Omega-15 specifically was a protocol that removed restrictions on the EDF’s total number of active and reserve units, as well as the total limit of tanks, aircraft and ships the EDF could have in service.

However, before any of the other councilmembers could respond, the President of the United States piped in and announced, “this is not important. We need to talk about actual problems, like people pouring though the northern border…”

 _Someone get his pacifier_.

“…I came here because I thought you guys could help me build a wall” the Archibald said.

“Mr. President,” the French ambassador started, “this council deals with international issues of _great significance_ , not fake news.”

Daniel reached into his pocket to find a silver yo-yo that he happened to have for when he was really, really bored. He put the toy in front of the Archibald, who grabbed it and tied the string around his finger. The POTUS was mesmerized by the yo-yo’s silver finish as it glistened going up and down.

“As I was saying,” Daniel sighed, “the EDF doesn’t have the capability to fight MECH if they manage to reverse engineer Cybertronian technology.”

“Director, Omega-15 would give you exceptional powers to mass produce an army that could wipe any of our militaries off the face of the earth. That is the reason why we put limits on the number of units in reserve and active EDF service,” the Russian ambassador explained, “wouldn’t it be more prudent for you to come up with something like… a raise to the number of units you may field? Something that would be more likely to be approved by this council.”

Daniel furrowed his brow and straightened his posture, “sir, with all due respect. The reason I am asking for this protocol to be enacted is precisely because we have no idea how many units will need to be produced. A figure I give you now to approve may need to be doubled or tripled in a week’s time.”

“However, what I can tell you is our strategy for defeating both MECH and the Decepticons at the same time.”

“Explain,” the British Foreign Secretary demanded.

“If MECH intends to raise an army of Cybertronians, they’ll need one thing in particular. Energon,” Daniel explained as a holographic projection of the substance appeared beside him. “In addition, the Decepticons as well as the Autobots require this substance as it is not only their lifeblood, but also their ammunition and it is essential for almost all of their technology.”

“Now, EDF satellites have mapped out where most major energon deposits are on Earth,” Daniel continued, replacing the hologram of energon with a globe with red and blue dots sprinkled all over it. “The blue dots represent energon deposits that have not been touched. The red ones represent energon deposits already under the control of the Decepticons.”

About 1/3 of the dots were red, while all the rest were blue. The council studied it for a moment before someone piped in, “what about the Autobots?”

“The Autobots do not have the resources to hold and secure these deposits to be mined, therefore, they must attack the Decepticons’ deposits, and raid whatever energon they have already mined. Besides, their sensors cannot detect unmined deposits.”

“…and MECH would need to control at least some of these deposits to build an army?”

“Yes, and the EDF plans to seize as many of these deposits as possible before SkyWEB discovers energon’s value, ultimately killing his ambitions before he realizes what exactly they are. Remember, SkyWEB only currently knows about the existence of the cybertronians, not anything about their biology.”

The council sat in contemplation for a brief moment, before one of the ambassador’s noted, “this ‘energon war’ would put the EDF in the Decepticon’s crosshairs.”

“Precisely. The Omega protocols are meant to only be used during the most dire of emergencies, and I believe that this is one of those times.”

“If we do not act now, _the EDF will be overrun, and this world order will fall to MECH_.”


	3. The Director's Word

**Jasper, Nevada**

The black SUV turned at a traffic light in the small town of Jasper, Nevada. Daniel looked out the driver side window lazily as the car drove itself. He hadn’t slept for a day now, and now that the sun was up, he knew he wouldn’t be getting anymore for a while. He looked at the time: 11:32. _Shit, I’m late!_ He thought.

Daniel straightened his posture and got his bearings. He figured he was about five minutes away from his ‘home.’ He took a deep breath before saying, “scan for Autobot lifesigns on our current route.”

**_“Scanning…_** ” the car droned, and after a few seconds said, **_“One Autobot signal detected.”_**

Daniel buried his face in his hands. “Shit…” he muttered, “they’re going to be so pissed.”

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and pressed the power button. He had purposely turned his phone off after the meeting at the UN. Not that it didn’t go well, it went perfectly as a matter of fact. Protocol Omega-15 was activated, and immediately after the EDF ramped up production of Z series combat droids by over 1000%. P.R.I.M.U.S. estimated that they’d reach 1,000,000 combat droids in active service within a few months, in addition to 5,000 HUVs, 3,500 light hover tanks and 2,000 heavy plasma tanks. A massive upgrade to be sure, but a welcome one.

But this wasn’t what bothered him, _what am I going to do about the Autobots? My role to secretly supervise their war has been depreciated. I am no longer needed there. But I’ve made friends, Jack… Raf… Bumblebee… Optimus… if I tell them the truth about me… no that would ruin any kind of friendship I had kindled over the past few months._

When Daniel’s phone booted up, he cringed when he saw that the Autobots attempted to call him five times today. _They must be worried sick, I’m normally at base right now._

“Tint windows to maximum,” Daniel suddenly ordered as the car turned onto the street where his apartment complex was.

Sure enough, Daniel recognized a familiar blue and red Peterbilt 379 truck that was waiting right in front of his place. He instinctively slouched in his seat to prevent Optimus from recognizing him, even if the Autobot leader could see through the tinted window. The car automatically turned into an alley beside the relatively large building and parked up. Daniel quickly exited the vehicle and ran through the backdoor into his apartment. It was relatively easy for Daniel to infiltrate Jasper. P.R.I.M.U.S. fabricated fake ID and other documents to make him seem like a U.S. Citizen, in addition to him having substantial amounts of money in a bank account to pay for things like rent and whatnot.

Once he locked his apartment’s door, he swiftly changed out of his suit into more casual clothing. Dan unlocked his phone and called Autobot base. After a few seconds, a voice yelled through his phone’s speaker, **_“DANIEL! Where have you been! Optimus has been waiting outside your place for almost an hour now and I was about to send the rest of the team out looking for you!”_**

“I’m sorry Ratchet, I had a pretty rough night sleep and I slept in,” Daniel lied effortlessly.

Daniel heard a few grumbles on the other end before Ratchet said, “Optimus is outside waiting for you.”

The line went dead.

Daniel sighed and finished putting on his casual clothing and made his way out the door. He was immediately confronted with Optimus’ Alt-mode’s imposing form that was parked right outside the main door. He opened the semi’s passenger side door and climbed in.

“Daniel,” Optimus rumbled.

“I’m sorry, I-”

“Ratchet has already informed me, Daniel.”

Optimus started his massive diesel engine and pulled out onto the road. Daniel took a deep breath and prepared himself for the inevitable barrage of questions he would have to either have to deflect or answer while _enhancing the truth_ at the same time.

The Autobot leader remained silent as he drove out of Jasper and onto a barren street towards Omega One. “Daniel, something has been troubling you.”

“Oh?” the brown-haired man replied, not even bothering to mask his concern that dripped into his voice.

Optimus didn’t say another word before Daniel finally gave in, “I’ve been under a lot of stress recently. My sleep patterns have been affected, and I guess that has taken a toll.”

Optimus hummed in acknowledgement and decided not to press the issue. The others were noticing a shift in Daniel’s behavior too, but they never confronted him about it.

The prime drove straight for the Autobot base and entered through the hidden door that would automatically open when an Autobot was nearby. Daniel watched as the rest of the crew came into view, Jack and Raf were playing a generic 2D top-down racing videogame with Bumblebee and Miko watching. Ratchet was working on another one of his random projects.

Daniel got out of the semi-truck and immediately saw an outlier. The pearl white Z-08 droid that was representing the EDF stood quietly observing the children’s videogame from afar. Daniel walked up the stairs to the platform the children were playing videogames on. He forced a smile and asked, “what’cha playing?”

“Dubstep Lens-Flare Racing Simulator 2D 2023 EXTREME EDITION 2DMiko answered enthusiastically.

_Great. Another clone of Racing Simulator 2D 2008…_ Daniel mentally sighed.

Daniel sat down beside Raf, who was winning. Jack tried and failed to catch up as 12 and ½ year old’s car crossed the virtual finish line. “Perhaps we could a play another game?” Dan suggested, “perhaps Battleground II?”

“Ooh I like that one,” Raf replied.

Battleground II was a multiplayer strategy game set during World War II and was critically acclaimed by many video game reviewers. Daniel grabbed the game from the shelf beside the TV and popped the disc into game console. He grabbed a controller and watched as the game loaded onto the screen. The game was 4-player allowing for Daniel, Raf, Jack and ‘Bee to play at once.

Miko didn’t want to play, something about strategy games being “boring.”

The TV screen was immediately filled with a map of Europe, with each player selecting which country they wished to control. Jack immediately selected the United States of America (USA), Raf selected the United Kingdom (UK) and Bee selected the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR / CCCP). Daniel was the last to pick, with only one option left.

Nazi Germany.

Daniel frowned slightly at the fact that everyone had just decided to silently gang up on him, with no one else deciding to choose an Axis faction. Of course, he could have chosen to be Fascist Italy. _But that’d just be shooting myself in the foot,_ Daniel thought.

The game started, any country that was not under control by one of the four players were commanded by the computer. Raf declared war alongside Jack on Daniel, which Daniel declaring war on them in return.

From afar, Optimus observed the game being played. He was disappointed that humans created games that simulated war. However, as he observed their game, it became clear to him that Daniel was going to win. Optimus knew that Nazi Germany lost the Second World War and that their regime was considered to be the most despicable to ever exist. But as he watched as Dan dismantled Raf’s Royal Air Force and fended off the Jack’s invasion through Italy, draining U.S. resources, he saw something in Daniel that he never saw before, a tactical genius.

After defeating both Raf and Jack, Daniel turned his attention to ‘Bee, who had been just waiting around and building his defenses for most of the game. Even still, since the rest of the allies were annihilated, he could focus all his forces on the Soviet Union.

The game ended in a decisive victory for Daniel, with _Der Königgrätzer Marsch_ TV screen being filled with the text “AXIS VICTORY.”

_I guess we should all be thankful that Hitler didn’t have my strategic mind,_ Daniel mused internally.

“Good game,” Raf said reluctantly with Bee and Jack.

Daniel flashed a brief smile before handing his controller to Miko. He stood up and strolled around where Ratchet was working. “What are you working on?” Daniel asked Ratchet.

Ratchet didn’t respond for a second before looking towards Daniel, who was on the platform beside him. “Hm? Oh, nothing you’d understand.”

Daniel cringed inside as he sucked up the insult. His persona among the Autobots was that of a slightly geeky, average intelligence software developer wannabe in high school with a terrible sense of human. Not nearly on the technical level of Raf, as he would occasionally suggest stupid tech ideas to him on purpose. Like, “what if we tied a thousand microcomputers together to DOS the Decepticon mainframe,” or, “what if you hacked into the Pentagon to see if the U.S. has discovered any aliens other than the Autobots!”

Sort of just like Miko with a techy twist?

Occasionally, he would slip up (just like he did a few seconds ago) and let _Director Flynn_ shine through. Typically, by becoming more responsible and less carefree in times of crisis (such as when Makeshift infiltrated base), although, sometimes he did let his intellect shine through like during the last video game match. Daniel pride wouldn’t allow him to purposely lose a game like Battleground II. He did worry for a brief while that his landslide victory would have been noticed as odd (especially against Raf), but his suspicions were quelled when no one made any further comments about the game and everyone moved onto other topics.

Although it was somewhat infuriating at times for Daniel, eventually he learned to love the character he created. It allowed him to simply forget about the MECH war for a while and simply relax. He had to admit that the activities the Autobots did with their human friends were quite fun (most of the time), and honestly, he really didn’t want to give it up; even if his role had technically been rendered obsolete by the EDF liaison officer who was watching him from about.

Daniel spotted the Z-08 droid that was watching from one of the highest platforms in the base. He crept away from where Ratchet’s workstation and stealthily entered the elevator. After a few seconds, Daniel exited the elevator and whispered, “Lieutenant Prime Bradley, I see you have changed your visor color.”

The droid looked down once again at the Autobots and their human friends; to see if they were watching. Confirming that they weren’t, he then faced Daniel and changed his visor color to the same deep purple color that was identical to Alex Prime’s visor. “Sir,” he saluted quickly before clasping both hands behind his back, “I changed my visor color to the standard Elite Guard hue to match my persona of being a simple Lieutenant in the EDF Elite Guard.”

“Yes, having ‘Prime’ in your title would raise a few eyebrows around here,” Dan nodded while looking at the Autobots below.

“Sir, if I may ask… why are you still here even after your role has been depreciated?”

Daniel paused for a brief moment before responding, “I can’t just simply disappear on them, their heads would implode!”

“Sir… you know we could have just faked your death-”

Daniel cut him off, “that is out of the question. I will _not_ do that to these people, they mean too much to me…”

“So, it is an illogical choice?”

The Lieutenant Prime knew he overstepped his bounds the second Daniel gave him one of his legendary sharp glares. However, instead of snapping, Daniel’s glare softened. “I guess so…” he muttered.

“Sir, I apologize-”

“No, you made a perfectly reasonable observation. I cannot reasonably get upset at my own creation for fulfilling one of their functions,” Daniel said while still looking at the ground.

Suddenly, the Lieutenant Prime’s visor flashed an even more rich color of purple. “P.R.I.M.U.S. wishes to inform you that all previously decommissioned previous generation Z-05, Z-06 and Z-07 series droids have been reactivated per your orders, sir.”

“Good, they should inflate our numbers until more Z-08 series droids are put into service,” Daniel scratched his chin before asking, “what about my next generation Z-09 series designs?”

“Prototypes have been manufactured and are currently undergoing testing.”

**Time skip – five days**

Daniel walked down a dark and tall corridor alongside an ecstatic Miko and Raf. “Dude, did you hear about Jack beating Vince with Arcee?”

_Street racing. Absolutely juvenile and pathetic,_ Daniel thought bitterly.

“Yeah! It’s absolutely glorious,” Daniel forced a smile.

“Vince had it coming,” Raf commented, “he’s been such a jerk to all of us.”

Daniel couldn’t argue with that, that kid had been a thorn in his side ever since he slipped into the school population. Always bringing attention to him when he didn’t expect and just generally being a bully to those he cared about. The thing was, Daniel couldn’t hate him, simply because he knew the one truth about bullies. The reason they bully is not because they are strong, quite the opposite. Bullies are weak, quite possibly the weakest among us, and they bully to compensate for this weakness. The most tragic part of bullying in Daniel’s opinion is that they often scar others, which sometimes turns victim into a bully later in life. A vicious cycle of misery.

“I second that,” Daniel responded.

They walked for a few more seconds when they reached a junction in the hall. They could hear somewhat loud motor humming down one of the passages. Miko immediately recognized that sound and went running towards it, while Daniel and Raf stayed behind a bit.

“Duude! Vroom Vroom Vrooom! And the winner is…” Daniel and Raf heard Miko’s voice close by.

Jack’s eyes widened, “Miko, who told you?”

“Are you kidding? It’s all over school!” Miko exclaimed.

Jack’s face contorted to a mix of horror and sadness. Raf walked up to the taller boy and smiled, “you beat the pants of that blowhard bully!”

Daniel had no comment and observed from a few meters away. Jack grabbed both Miko and Raf’s shoulders and forced them into a huddle, “you guys have to keep this on the D.L., especially from Optimus.”

“And what if he finds out otherwise?” Daniel challenged.

Jack looked up towards him and opened his mouth, yet no words came out. His gaze lowered to the ground in defeat.

Daniel’s face softened, “I’ll cover for you, I give you my word.”

_WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST SAY!_ Daniel’s logical mind screeched.

Jack jumped slightly in surprise, “t-thanks.”

As the crew walked back into the main silo area, Daniel internally berated, _what have I done! I’ve cornered myself into a conspiracy!_ Daniel sighed, _well, I hope Jack is responsible and quits this ‘hobby’ while he’s ahead._

**Time skip – one day later**

Daniel held the controller in hand as if he was holding onto dear life. He skillfully attempted to get ahead of Raf, but was savagely blocked by the smaller boy’s car, causing him to fall even farther behind. Jack came up from behind with a sheepish look and asked, “Hey Raf, is it okay if I borrow Bumblebee for an hour?”

Daniel’s blood started to boil at the thought of Jack racing again, _God DAMNIT!_

Raf paused the game and looked at him, “Jack, you know that racing’s against the rules!”

“Seriously Jack, do you not remember all the crap we went through yesterday?” Dan admonished in a slightly light tone.

“Aw crap,” Bumblebee buzzed.

“Comon Raf, he’s gotta get the girl!” Miko said.

Raf raised a brow at this statement in confusion, while Daniel facepalmed.

“…and beat the bully!” Miko added.

“Well…”

“Please Raf, just this once?” Jack pleaded.

Raf finally nodded and looked down at the ground.

Daniel felt the persona he created for blending in with the rest of the children melt away, exposing ‘ _The Director’_.

“Jack, one thing you can be sure about me is that I **_never_** break my word,” Daniel slightly growled. He then took a step towards him and uncharacteristically (at least to Jack) seethed, “But for all of our sakes, do NOT make me regret that.”

The Bulkhead, ‘Bee and the rest of the children were taken aback by his apparent shift in demeaner. They were all silent for a moment before Jack reassured Dan he would be safe.

Dan took a deep breath, “good luck.”

Jack nodded and made his way down the platform onto the floor, where Bumblebee was already waiting.

As Daniel watched Bumblebee speed out of the base, he looked around and locked his sights on the Lieutenant Prime who had observed everything that had taken place. His false persona failed to reform as he growled out loud, “careless, foolish!” As he carelessly marched towards the droid and hissed, “I want a drone in the air now! Inform me if there is any existential threat to him at ANY time!”

The droid nodded and relayed the order through the PrimusNET. Daniel was still fuming as he sat next to Raf once again. “Daniel, are you okay?” Raf inquired.

Daniel’s gut twisted, _oh… no… he heard me talking to Bradley… how could I be so careless?_

Daniel attempted to recompose himself but failed miserably, “I am fine.”

Raf eyed him suspiciously, “how were you able to order that droid around?”

And just like that, Daniel’s entire façade fell like a house of cards. He looked around. Bulkhead was out of earshot and Dan presumed that he didn’t hear what just happened. He looked for Miko, who he found standing right beside him, staring at him expectantly, “yeah, I heard it, what gives?”

Daniel sighed and unlocked his phone in view of both Raf and Miko. They watched as he opened an interface neither Raf or Miko had ever seen before. He pressed a button that was labeled “nearest available unit” and was presented with another interface that looked like a text messenger. In the top left corner, the name **_< <Lieutenant Prime Bradley>>_**

**_< <March to my present location.>>_** Daniel typed and sent.

**_< <Affirmative>> _**the droid responded instantly.

The children looked up to see the android in question stamp his pede on the ground and begin his rigid march towards them. The droid’s arms moved perfectly and completely in sync with his pedes and never broke pace. He stepped right in front of the Director and stamped his pede, signaling the end of his march.

“Wow,” Miko gasped, “droid! Salute me!”

The Lieutenant Prime looked at Daniel who said, “do as she says.”

The combat droid snapped his gaze back at Miko and gave a crisp salute, after which he said, “Ma’am!”

Miko giggled in excitement as she ordered the droid to jump on one foot, which it did with perfect balance.

“Enough,” Daniel ordered, immediately halting the droid. “Identify me.”

The Lieutenant Prime looked at him for a moment and changed his visor color back to purple before answering, “you are Daniel Flynn, Director of the EDF.”

The children gasped. “No way!” Miko exclaimed before Daniel hushed her.

“Look, I need you guys to keep this secret for now, I’ll tell you everything ASAP. I just need you to go with the flow for now.”

Both Miko and Raf nodded slowly as Bulkhead approached them, “What are you guys talking about?”

“Homework,” Daniel lied flawlessly.

Bulkhead nodded. Arcee suddenly emerged from a corridor and walked over to the group. “Anyone seen Jack?”

“Not since… we last saw him,” Miko sheepishly said.

Daniel mentally facepalmed and watched as Arcee’s expression turned to that of frustration. “They’re racing, aren’t they?”

“Just this once!” Raf weakly declared.

Acree immediately looked at Bulkhead, “did you know about this?”

“No!” Bulkhead maintained his innocence. However, looking into her optics he knew she couldn’t be fooled. “Maybe. A little.”

Arcee sighed.

“Sir!” Bradley called.

Before the droid could say anything else, Bumblebee comm’d the base, **_“I’m being chased by Knockout!”_**

“You’re being chased by Knockout?” Raf translated.

**_“Yes, I need backup!”_** ‘Bee beeped.

“That sounds like a Decepticon,” Miko noted.

“’Bee do not engage,” Arcee ordered, "your priority is to keep Jack safe. Until I get my servos on him…”

**_“Understood,”_** Bumblebee acknowledged as he cut the transmission.

Without a second thought, both Bulkhead and Arcee transformed into their alt modes and raced out of the base, leaving the remaining children to their own devices.

“Bradley,” Daniel said to the droid still standing next to him, “I want to be able to respond in under thirty seconds to this threat should the Autobots lose control of this situation.”

The combat droid nodded, “I will deploy containment protocol 22A.”

“Very good.”

Daniel sat back on the couch next to Miko and Raf and sighed, “now we wait.”

**EDF Outpost NA-113 – Nevada, United States of America**

Alarm bells suddenly started ringing over the PrimusNET. What was usually a quiet Elite Guard outpost was being transformed into a buzzing nightmare. One squad (4 individual droids) of Z-08 Elite (Z-08E) droids and two squads (8 droids) of Z-08 Superior (Z-08S) units were immediately activated and they raced down the stairs to the garage full of black SUVs. The lead Z-08E droid opened a bunch of weapon lockers that were embedded into the one of the garage walls. Immediately after, the rest of the droids lined up to grab their weapons. Most of the droids grabbed standard Mk. VII Advanced Assault Rifles (AAR-7), but one grabbed a heavy plasma launcher and two others grabbed Mk. II Laser Sniper Rifles (LSR-2).

Once they got their weapons, two Z-08Es got into two SUVs with the other two units getting into the vehicles evenly. The garage door immediately opened and the vehicles sped out onto the bumpy dirt road. After a few seconds, they reached pavement.

**_< <Switch to stealth mode,>>_** the lead Z-08E signaled over the PrimusNET.

Suddenly, the vehicles were dead silent and their headlamps turned off. If someone was looking the wrong way, they could easily be run over by one of these vehicles, even if they had perfect hearing.

**_< <ADVISORY: TARGET HAS HOSTAGE AND IS HEADING IN YOUR DIRECTION>> _**P.R.I.M.U.S. messaged over the PrimusNET.

**_< <New orders: execute tactic 5B3.>> _ **

The SUVs suddenly pulled over to opposite sides of the road. The droids immediately got out of their vehicles, crouched and aimed their weapons in the direction of Knockout and turned their visors to plain black. They were at the bottom of a slight hill, which limited the droids’ visibility from Knockout. A Z-08S and a Z-08E droid ran up the slight hill and laid on their torsos. They could see Knockout’s bright headlamps over three kilometers away.

The Z-08E droid on the top of the hill was one of the two who brought a sniper rifle. After performing various calculations the droid aimed its weapon at a specific point ahead of him. **_< <Phase II executing in 35 seconds…>>_** The droid announced over the PrimusNET.

The hum of Knockout’s engine came closer.

And closer…

And closer…

Until suddenly, the red Decepticon was (for a split second) in the Z-08E’s crosshairs. Capitalizing on the moment with inhuman reflexes, the droid fired an intense violet beam of pure light energy at its target. The beam passed through the ‘con’s engine, two minor energon lines and one of his tires. Causing the blue liquid to spill all over the road.

Knockout’s engine stalled and he lost control of himself and skidded into a ditch next to one of the SUVs. The Z-08S droids immediately rushed over to the wreck. One of them smashed the driver side window with its fist and followed up with a combat knife to slit the seatbelt restraining the unconscious human. Arcee was not far behind when the EDF droid shot him and watched as two Z-08S droids pulled the human out of the ‘Con’s grasp and swiftly carried him to one of the SUVs.

Knockout transformed and yelled, “AGH! It’s time for your examination!”

Knockout’s arm transformed into a buzz saw while energon droplets dripped from his chassis. Arcee drew her weapon, but before she could fire, a blood red ball of plasma crashed into Knockout’s shoulder plating, resulting in most of his shoulder armor being melted away.

“GAHH!!!” He howled in pain as energon showered onto the pavement like a florescent blue rainstorm.

The ‘con seemed to get the message that this battle was lost and retreated. He transformed into his vehicular mode, which was all beaten up, and sped away into the distance.

The lead Z-08E turned to the Autobot that stood before him, “I am Sub-”

He was cut off by a loud horn in the distance, which honked one more time, only it was closer. The horn unmistakably belonged to a semi-truck, which gave the droid a good idea who it was. He ordered his units to stand down (causing their visors to return to their normal color that glowed in darkness) and watched as the Peterbilt 379 stopped and transformed in front of his visor. The Z-08 droids’ visors looked like fireflies in near total darkness from Optimus’ perspective. Not to mention the fact that most of them were covered in energon, which glowed too.

The Z-08E gave Optimus a crisp salute, “sir, I am Sub-Lieutenant EG-2GA of the EDF Elite Guard.”

Optimus nodded and looked around at the energon covered road. “What is the status of the human?”

“Unconscious, sir. Very minor injuries which can be healed by the body itself. We were initially going to drop him off at a civilian medical facility… but I am open to other ideas-”

The droid was cut off once again, this time by two Autobots arriving at the scene. Jack, who was sitting in Bumblebee’s driver seat rolled down the window and admitted, “Optimus, this was my fault.”

Optimus ignored the boy as one of the black SUVs dashed into the distance towards the nearest hospital. Once it was out of sight, Optimus asked, “Sub-Lieutenant, how many casualties did you suffer?”

“None sir, Anti-Cybertronian tactical protocols were followed to minimize that risk.”

While Optimus did somewhat cringe at the words “Anti-Cybertronian tactics,” he did admit that they were effective enough to save the human’s life.

“If you have any further questions, you are more than welcome to take it up with your EDF liaison.”

With that, the last of the EDF droids jumped in the black SUV and drove away.

Optimus looked at his team, who was looking back at him sheepishly. His expression turned into a full frown as he growled, “I am very disappointed in all of you.”

_Uh oh,_ the other Autobots collectively thought.

**_I was going to write a whole spiel down here about stuff… but it’s so late… I need sleep._ **


	4. Announcement

**[ANNOUNCEMENT]**

Hey everyone, Memory Theta here… wow, this has been quite the journey, hasn’t it? I joined Fanfiction.net in June of 2015 and published my first fanfiction, a Star Trek: The Next Generation / Transformers Prime crossover, _The First Stable Wormhole_. Since then, I have written over 100,000 words across various other fanfictions, a feat that I wouldn’t have believed when I started. As a result, my writing skills have increased tremendously, something that will undoubtedly carry me through the rest of my life moving forward. If you’ve read this far, you probably know what I am going to say… but…

As of **February 14 th, 2018**, I am putting **all** of my Fanfictions on Fanfiction.net and AO3 on hiatus. Indefinitely.

Now, this does not mean I am precluding the possibility of me returning… I could return in weeks, months, years, or, I may not return at all.

                Believe me, this was not a decision that I have taken lightly. There are a variety of factors at play here, some I am not willing to share publicly. However, it really boils down to the fact that as I move on with life, I simply do not have the time to imagine and write my fanfictions. Especially when you consider that I technically still have five fanfictions that are still active (neither abandoned nor completed), it becomes clear that there really is no end in sight. Also, due to the fact that my overall competence has increased as I age, I find various issues with my fanfictions that I started writing three years ago, causing me to have to rewrite sections, and even entire fics in the case of _The Azure War_ replacing _The First Stable Wormhole_ and _Dawn of the Republic_.

                Anyway, I’ll quit rambling. I’d like to thank everyone who commented, either with criticism or praise, both helped me tremendously with my writing and motivation, respectively. I would also like to thank those who added this to their favorites, watch list… etc. Seeing that people cared about what I was doing motivated me to get as far as I did.

                As for potentially orphaning / putting my fanfictions up for adoption… well… these stories, while I will not be working on them, remain quite close to my heart and I probably won’t consider it for a while, until that feeling has worn off.

                If anyone has questions, I may make a second update addressing those… but, for now, I’ll leave at this.

                Again, thank you to all that have read my fanfictions, and just maybe, I’ll find the time to come back to them in the (hopefully) not too distant future.

                -Memory Theta

 


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